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HARLINGEN — After about five months on the block, Valle Vista Mall is landing its biggest tenant in years, planning to re-open the sprawling storefront that once housed its flagship retailer.
As part of a $2.9 million project, Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply is moving into the old Dillard’s 102,482-square-foot storefront, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
On Jan. 1, the national retailer of western gear is set to launch the renovation project, expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2024, registration records show.
“This project includes a complete interior remodel of the existing old Dillard’s store,” the agency stated.
On July 14, parties involved in the project declined comment.
Since June 2021, the sprawling storefront has stood vacant after Dillard’s closed a clearance center three years after shutting down the mall’s original flagship retail store.
In 2021, BH Properties, a national real estate developer, bought the 106,000 square-foot space which housed the Dillard’s store.
Murdoch’s expanding into Texas
Launching its first store in Bozeman, Mt., in 1994, Murdoch’s has expanded into six states, opening more than 30 stores specializing in western gear such as clothing, sporting goods and equipment.
Now, the company’s pushing into Texas, where it’s also opening a Mission store at 311 S. Bryan Road.
Valle Vista Mall
In February, Valle Vista Mall, sprawling across 60 acres, was put up for sale.
On July 14, owner Mike Kohan declined comment on any prospective buyers while Daniel Galvan, a broker with Coldwell Banker, could not be reached for comment.
In May, the Valley Morning Star reported information indicated a buyer was waiting to sign a contract.
However, Orlando Campos, the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation’s manager and chief executive officer, stated he didn’t have updates on the mall.
“To the best of my knowledge, it has not been sold,” he stated.
Earlier this month, the mall paid $335,839 in property taxes for the 2022 tax year, while incurring $50,376 in late fees, according to the Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office.
Cutting vacancies
In 2018, the Kohan Retail Investment Group purchased the mall for $12.5 million.
Across the country, the Kohan group, a Great Neck, N.Y, company specializing in buying and upgrading struggling mall properties, has purchased more than 20 malls, with its business plan aimed at upgrading the properties while financially stabilizing them.
When the company bought Valle Vista, the mall’s vacancy rate stood at about 25 percent.
Since then, the Kohan group’s worked to cut vacancies to about 15 percent.
Today, J.C. Penney stands as Valle Vista Mall’s big retailer, the last of its original anchors.
Business plan
As part of Kohan’s business plan, the mall began drawing entertainment venues such as Urban Air Trampoline Park, which opened in 2019.
That year, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet began negotiating to buy the former Forever 21 space.
Then in 2020, a Dallas-based company buying former Sears’ mall spaces bought 90,000 square feet.
Soon, California-based Prime Healthcare, which operates Harlingen Medical Center, Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco and Mission Regional Medical Center, opened back-office operations across 20,000 square feet.
Then in late 2021, TaskUs, a business service company, opened offices there, hiring about 1,000 workers.
Changing times
Opening in 1983, Valle Vista Mall stood for decades as the area’s premier retail mecca, drawing shoppers from across much of the Rio Grande Valley.
But for years, the mall, amid changing consumer buying patterns and online shopping trends, was losing big-name tenants.
By 2002, construction of the Expressway 77-83 interchange blocked traffic to the mall, driving many shoppers to north Brownsville’s growing retail district.
Then in 2008, city officials offered the mall more than $1.2 million in incentives to help Simon Property Group, the management company which brought the mall to town, upgrade the property.
Background
By 2017, Washington Prime Group, unable to sell the mall, dumped the property back on lenders who had financed its sale with a $40 million loan, while the Washington group continued to own $27 million.
Then, ProEquity Asset Management Corp. took over the mall’s management before the Kohan group purchased the property.
